Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an inflator for inflating articles such as personal floatation devices, rafts, buoys, and emergency signaling equipment. More particularly, this invention relates safety indicators for inflators to indicate when the inflator has been previously fired and is no longer operable to inflate the inflatable article.
Description of the Background Art
Presently, there exist many types of inflators designed to inflate inflatable articles such as personal floatation devices (life vests, rings and horseshoes), life rafts, buoys and emergency signaling equipment. Inflators typically comprise a body for receiving the neck of a cartridge of compressed gas such as carbon dioxide. A reciprocating pierce pin is disposed within the body of the inflator for piercing the frangible seal of the cartridge to permit compressed gas therein to flow into the article to be inflated. Typically, a manually movable firing lever is operatively connected to the piercing pin such that the piercing pin pierces the frangible seal of the cartridge upon jerking of a ball/jerk lanyard. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,080,402, 5,058,933, 5,058,932, 4,216,182, 3,809,288, 3,754,731, and 3,809,288, the disclosure of each of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein, illustrates one particular embodiment of a manual inflator that utilizes an inflation manifold that connects to the inflatable article allowing, upon firing, gas from the gas cartridge to flow through the inflator then through the manifold into the inflatable article. U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,475,711, 5,564,478 and 4,894,036, the disclosures of each of which are incorporated by reference herein, illustrate other embodiments of manual inflators that are heat-sealed directly to the inflatable article, thereby eliminating the need for an inflation manifold.
Water-activated actuators have been incorporated into manual inflators so that in an emergency situation such as downed aviator, injured person or a man overboard, the inflator is automatically actuated to inflate the inflatable article to which it is connected. Representative automatic actuators for inflators are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,059,814, 3,091,782, 3,426,942, 3,579,964, 3,702,014, 3,757,371, 3,910,457, 3,997,079, 4,223,805, 4,267,944, 4,260,075, 4,382,231, 4,436,159, 4,513,248, 4,627,823, 5,5026,310, 5,076,468, 5,400,922, 5,509,576, and 5,601,124, the disclosures of each of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein.
Status indicators or guards have been developed for inflators to indicate their operating condition such as whether they are in “ready” condition for firing or are inoperable due to a previously-fired or missing gas cartridge or to guard against inadvertent firing. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,416,393, 5,694,986, 5,775,358, 6,589,087, 8,360,276 illustrate various types of indicators/guards for inflators to indicate their operating condition. U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,475,711 and 5,564,478 teach a safety/indicator clip, typically colored green, for retaining the firing lever of heat-sealable inflators into its normal unfired position substantially flush with the side of the inflator such that the firing lever does not protrude therefrom and otherwise be inadvertently caught or snagged. U.S. Pat. No. 7,475,711 further provides that upon firing by jerking the handle, the firing lever pivots away to pop-off the safety clip to expose a red-colored flag indicating that the gas cartridge has been fired.
The safety clips of U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,475,711 and 5,564,478 have been widely accepted in the industry to indicate the firing status of the inflator. However, such safety clips are small and are narrowly viewable from one direction to indicate the firing condition or status of the inflator. Accordingly, there presently exists a need for a more visible status indicator that may be viewed from all angles.
Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide an improvement which overcomes the aforementioned inadequacies of the prior art devices and provides an improvement which is a significant contribution to the advancement of the inflation art.
Another object of this invention is to provide a pop-off indicator for inflators to indicate a previously-fired condition of the inflator.
Another object of this invention is to provide a status indicator for inflators that is visible when viewed from all angles.
Another object of this invention is to provide a status indicator, preferably colored green, that fully covers the firing lever, preferably colored red, such that in the at-ready “green” condition the green status indicator conceals the red firing lever and readily viewable to indicate a “go” or “green” firing condition and such that after firing to pop-off the green status indictor revealing the red firing lever, the inoperable “no-go” or “red” condition is then readily viewable.
Another object of this invention is to provide a pop-off indicator for manual inflators such as those shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,475,711 and 5,564,478 that are heat-sealed to the article to be inflated.
The foregoing has outlined some of the pertinent objects of the invention. These objects should be construed to merely illustrative of some of the more prominent features and applications of the intended invention. Many other beneficial results can be attained by applying the disclosed invention in a different manner or modifying the invention within the scope of the disclosure. Accordingly, other objects and a fuller understanding of the invention and the detailed description of the preferred embodiment in addition to the scope of the invention defined by the claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.